China rejects US accusation of acting inadequately when outbreak began
Iran Press TV
Friday, 20 March 2020 2:16 PM
China has rejected an accusation by US President Donald Trump that it acted inadequately when its outbreak of the new coronavirus began in December last year.
"Some people on the US side are trying to stigmatize China's fight against the epidemic, and shift the blame onto China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Friday, a day after Trump said the world was "paying a big price" because of Beijing's lack of transparency about its outbreak.
"This approach ignores the great sacrifice made by the Chinese people to safeguard the health and safety of humankind, and slanders China's major contribution to global public health," Geng added.
To contain the outbreak, China has locked down millions of its people in several cities, including in Wuhan, a metropolis of 11 million citizens where the first case of infection with the new virus, called SARS-CoV-2, was detected late last year.
People in Wuhan and other quarantined cities have been facing tough restrictions on movement and are mostly confined to their homes. Only one person per family is allowed to do shopping outside for groceries, medication, and other essentials.
China has close to 81,000 cases of coronavirus infection, and nearly 3,250 people have died of the disease caused by the virus in the country. But the restrictions imposed have since almost halted the outbreak.
Trump has been criticized for failing to take the outbreak in the United States seriously soon enough. He has previously joked about the threat from the virus, and has compared it to the seasonal flu. Although the new coronavirus causes flu-like symptoms, it has no vaccination or cure yet – unlike the flu.
Amid Trump's casual attitude, the number of infections with the new virus in the US has passed 14,000, and 200 people have died.
As the American epidemic worsened, Trump changed his tone, and has since attempted to shift at least some of the blame to China by calling the new pathogen the "Chinese virus," a remark that has been described as racist, including by US officials.
Geng, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said China had shared data with the US throughout the epidemic.
Additionally, and while a number of countries have been working to develop vaccination for the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that China is the country with the most progress toward that end.
The virus has killed 10,000 people across the world, and has afflicted 232,000 others.
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